Ethnic Minorities in America

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Ethnic Minorities in America
In the United States the term "minority" often infers membership within an ethnic or cultural minority group. However, this term also encompasses other groups that lack equality, such as women, homosexuals and people with disabilities. By definition, the hearing majority classifies Deaf people as minorities because of their inability to hear. Yet linguists and social scientists argue that the basis of Deaf people's status as a minority group is not one of disability, but as a cultural and linguistic minority (Lane, Hoffmeister and Bahan: 1996: 335-6). In order to assert that Deaf people are a linguistic and cultural minority in America the characteristics of a minority group must first be defined.
According to Schaeffer, members of a minority group share the following five characteristics:
Members of a minority group experience unequal treatment and have less power over their lives than members of a dominant group.
Members of a minority group share physical and cultural characteristics that distinguish them such as skin color or language. Each society has its own arbitrary standard for determining which characteristics are most important in defining dominant and minority groups.
Membership in a dominant or majority group is often involuntary
Minority group members have a strong sense of group solidarity.
Members of a minority group generally marry others from the same group. (Schaffer, 1998: 6)
Furthermore, ethnic minorities have other characteristics that set them apart from the majority such as language, national origin and cultural differences. (Schaffer, 1998: 7)
Audism is defined as an attitude based on pathological thinking which results in a negative stigma toward anyon...
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Padden, Carol and Humphries, Tom (1988). Deaf In America: Voices From a Culture Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
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Reflecting on and changing the face of ethnic minority psychology is very important in today’s society. Race, ethnicity, culture and diversity are pressing societal issues that have existed for several years. Many people face issues everyday with their identity, which is the sense of self being independent of one’s ethnic background; empowering it and then transforming it; whether transforming is for the good or for the bad. People in our society, mainly our youth, have to deal with the pressures

current landscape of culture in the U.S.A. many ethnic minorities find it difficult to give up their native languages to speak the English language, because they feel that they are losing a part of their culture. However, what they should realize is that by accepting the English language into their lives they are not losing a part of their culture, they are gaining a new identity for themselves and their culture.
The most common reason for ethnic minorities’ fear of giving up their languages is fear

Melting Pot Theory
Often America is referred to as “The large melting pot.” The idea that the United States is a land of opportunity, where anyone can come and blend into a new breed that is uniquely American. However, the cultural diversity in America is clearly evident, from physical characteristics to different religious beliefs and customs. As minorities immigrate to America and attempt to assimilate in society, they are forced to live a pluralistic lifestyle of blending with the current society

Ethnic Identity and African Americans
Ethnic Identity
Ethnic identity is the sum total of group member feelings about those values, symbols, and common histories that identify them as a distinct group (Smith 1991). Development of ethnic identity is important because it helps one to come to terms with their ethnic membership as a prominent reference group and significant part of an individuals overall identity. Ethnic reference group refers to an individuals psychological relatedness to groups

discrimination, in many modern day socialized societies ranging from the United States of America to Sub-Saharan Africa. For Troutt (2014), the turn of the19th century saw a strengthening of institutionalized racism and legal discrimination against people of African (non-white) descent in the United States of America, as well as in “non-white ethnic groups” in South Africa via Apartheid laws. Thus, members of the same ethnic group deemed through societal structures and constructionism’s were able to identify

and Asian Americans for many years. In the beginning of America, there was distinguish hierarchical structure of ethnic group brought upon by de-facto segregation and de-jure segregation. However, in the turn of the mid twentieth century, America became unified under a principle of cultural pluralism. The abolishment of slavery, the desegregation of public facilities and intuitions, and the Equal Rights Act of 1964, which gave all minorities including women an equal opportunity, gave rise to the

America is a Country based on diversity and immigration of many cultures creating a melting pot people from all over the world living together in freedom. The Asian American ethnic group is also based on diversity and different immigration patterns of different cultures all representing each other under one name Asian American. Asian Americans have a very diverse history and have different subgroups that have different social status. This essay will discuss and analyze the history of and how Asian

well-rounded to be "wanted" by top schools (Fuller 39)
Cultural identification- 4 different responses to being put in immigrant situation-
can make immigrant reluctant to acculturate
C. In recent decades, the majority of immigrants have come to America seeking economic prosperity and more opportunities. However, Immigrants must realize that the best way of achieving economic success involves acculturation to the American culture.
II. Opposing viewpoints
A. Economic success is not the only kind

Introduction
It is important to realize that even though it is the 21st century, United States of America is not a post-racial society. A post-racial society is considered to be “a society free from racial prejudice, discrimination, and oppression” (Adams et al., 57). The reason I state that it is not post-racial is because racism, discrimination, prejudices, and oppression occurs every day. Although racism and discrimination does not have as much public support as it once did, it is still evident

Racial Struggle in America
Yes East and West and North and South, the Palm and the pine, the pole and the equator, the crescent and the cross - how the great Alchemist melts and fuses them with his purging flame! Here shall they all unite to build the Republic of Man and the Kingdom of God. (Rereading America 535)
The myth of the melting pot, similarly to The American Dream [i] , brings a lot of immigrants to America hoping to find equality, freedom and opportunity. The promise